VERO BEACH, Fla. - Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka made his third appearance of the spring yesterday and finished with so-so results. The right-hander suffered his first Grapefruit League loss after allowing three runs on three hits, including a three-run homer to the Dodgers’ Matt Kemp in the bottom of the first inning.

Dice-K, who finished with three walks and five strikeouts, settled down after throwing 28 pitches in the first. He finished three innings — plus one batter in the fourth — to close out his 72-pitch outing.

“When he made his pitches he was fine,” said manager Terry Francona. “We want to get his pitch count up, so he feels like he’s working, which he did a little too quick. When he didn’t make pitches he paid the price.”

Matsuzaka said that he wanted to work on different pitchers yesterday, including sliders, and he got behind in a lot of counts. He said he was pleased with his curveball, but admitted he felt fatigue.